Making a Blended Media using imovie 9

Transcription

1 Making a Blended Media using imovie 9 In following these instructions, we assume that you have already watched the video above and completed a Storyboard (plan) for your Slowmation (including information about your animation and narration), and that you are now ready to capture your photographs and put your Slowmation together using imovie. STEP 1: Gathering images/videos Once a storyboard is written with your narration, you need to get still, slow moving and video images to complement it. You can use your own images and/or download pre-existing ones from YouTube and Google Images. It is best to collect all your images (still and video) and put them in one folder labelled Media on the desktop with sub-folders labelled Static Images, Slowmation Images and Video so that you have them in one place in case there are technology problems. If you are using a digital still camera to take your own photos it is important to have your camera image size on low resolution or vga. TRANSFERRING YOUR OWN PHOTOS/VIDEOS FROM IPHONE/IPAD TO COMPUTER (i) Photos: When taking images using your device try to keep the device as still as possible. When you connect your device to your computer (using USB cable), the images are automatically displayed in iphoto. Click Select all and Import Photos to bring them from the device to iphoto. Set up a folder on the desktop, press Shift or go to Edit and then Select all and drag them into a folder you have set up on the desktop. Once they are in the folder then you can disconnect your device. You then have to decide if you want to keep the photos on your device or delete them. (ii) Videos: If you have taken a video with an iphone/ipad then follow a similar format as the still photos. Connect your device to your computer, import the videos into IMovie, and then drag the videos to the folder where your still photos are so that you have all the still images and video in one folder. DOWNLOADING PRE-EXISTING STILL IMAGES To find and download static/still images that are have a Creative Commons Licence that can be shared, remixed or reused go to the Creative Commons Australia website at and do the following (these should be referenced so see video on Digital Scholarship): Type-in your search terms and tick the modify, adapt, or build upon box Select Google Images Select image and click view original image

2 Right click on image and select Save image as Save image as a JPEG file to the Desktop DOWNLOADING PRE-EXISTING VIDEOS To find and download free videos that can be shared, remixed or reused go to the Creative Commons Australia website at and do the following: Type-in your search terms and tick the modify, adapt, or build upon box Select YouTube Select the video you want to download

3 Type the letters ss before youtube in the video URL and press Return Select Download MP4 and locate the video in your Downloads folder SLOWMATION IMAGES Once you have made or downloaded your static images and video in your images folder you can then create your slowmation images which is simplified stop-motion animation with image speed set at 2/frames per second. See for the instructions. Slowmation is very good to show the indepth science happening in your explanation and zooms in or drills down into the explanation of the concept. Once you have your static images, slowmation images and video in your Images folder on your desktop you can then open up your movie making software, either imovie or Windows movie maker and start blending. STEP 2: Importing images/videos into imovie & allocating frame speed Create your project Open imovie and go to File New Project. Name your project and click Create. Turn off the default zoom setting (VERY IMPORTANT) Go to File Project Properties and at the bottom of the screen is Initial Photo Placement. Click on the drop down menu and tick Fit to Frame rather than the default Ken Burns (this makes the images zoom in and out automatically). This must be done at the beginning because it cannot be done after the images have been imported.

4 Import photos and video into imovie (i) Still Images: Take your still images using a digital still camera or phone and try to keep it still (taped to some books or a desk). Connect your phone to your computer and the images are automatically displayed in iphoto. Click select all and import photos to bring them to iphoto. Click on the first and last photo holding down the shift key and then drag into your Static Images folder. You can copy and drag still images (for static images or slowmation) directly from your media folder on the desk top into image area in imovie. (ii) Video: You cannot drag the video directly into imovie, you need to import it first. Go to File Import Movie which will take you to your computer. Find the movie (in the folder where you copied it) and click Import. Make up a new file name and this will then go to the top of the videos that have previously been imported. Select which part of the video you want and drag and drop the selected area or copy and paste. Set timing Double-click on any of your imported images and the properties inspector window will open. The default setting is 4.0 s. Decide on the duration for each slide to suit the narration. For static images (perhaps at the beginning and end), insert the approximate time duration which could be anything from 5-20 seconds (this can be adjusted later). If the images are part of a slowmation, change the duration from the default setting of 4.0 seconds to 0.5 seconds, which is the time for a slowmoving image. If you press Shift you can select all the photos that need to be that speed and change them at one time. You may need static photos at the end to be longer as well. You will have to practice your narration with the approximate settings first and then change them to complement the narration. STEP 3: Adding a narration Once you have the timing set for the images, trial a narration to approximate the image timing. Adjust the image timing to suit the narration. When you are ready to record, click the microphone icon in the centre of the imovie workspace. Then click on a clip to start recording. You ll see an audio box appear with a green line showing your voice level. You need to click the first clip to start and it is after a three-second count down. You will see the audio file being created in purple. You can delete it if you make a mistake. You can also pick it up and move it around. You can make one continuous audio clip or a set of them (depends on how often you need to stop to check your script) but it is simpler to do it in one run. Add music/sound affects You can add music/sound affects if you wish but it often detracts from the narration so perhaps just play some in the background at the beginning and end images. Make sure it does not detract from the narration. To add music click the music note icon in the centre right of the imovie workspace, select the music from itunes and drag it to the photos.

5 If you want to add some sound effects you can click on imovie Sound Effects and ilife Sound Effects and drag and drop. This works just like the audio you created in step 6 and just adds another sound track. You can copy and paste these to get longer sound effects. However, more effects can be less quality so don t get carried away with the bells and whistles and keep in mind the main purpose which is a clear explanation using blended media for complementarity. Add a title and credits Click the T icon in the centre right of the imovie workspace. Look for a title that works for you. Edit it in the top right of the workspace (add text, etc.). Drag the name of the title to your movie to add it. STEP 4: Saving the file Save/Share your movie. Go to Share Export Movie Using QuickTime and export the movie to your desktop. For more help with imovie go to: STEP 5: Referencing/Attribution All materials used including media with a Creative Commons licence require that users of the work attribute or give credit to the original author. This is also a requirement under Australian and international copyright law. This means you always have to acknowledge the creator of the CC work you are using, as well as provide any relevant copyright information. This allows the material to be copied, distributed and reused, at a minimum in its current form, for non-commercial purposes, and as long as the original creator/s are credited, which is called attribution. See video on left hand side entitled Digital Scholarship explaining four sources for digital material and how to attribute or reference appropriately.